My mother has often chirped, when things are looking a bit bleak and that they will never get better, don’t worry “it’s always darkest before the dawn”. The highway department has a similar view when they post a sign in a construction zone that announces “the inconvenience is temporary but the repairs are permanent”. When I surveyed Pandora the other day when I was working on the watermaker, both phrases came to mind.
It seems that it’s about this time each year when I feel like projects on Pandora will never come to an end that I survey the mess that I have on my hands and say “yikes, this will never get better.
Yes, I am making progress toward launch but this is the view that greets me when I climb aboard these days. What a trashed mess.
A bit of a contrast to how she will look when she’s all cleaned up in a few months. I hope so anyway. Perhaps if I just add a lovely herb plant. Perhaps not. 
Down below? Worse or better? You be the judge. No… trashed equally.
Another angle better? Not even close.
No gourmet meals being prepared here.
However, if things continue to progress we will soon have “unlimited” water or at least as much water as we have power to generate with our new watermaker. While the following pictures may look about the same as the ones that I posted a few weeks ago, there is significant progress with many more lovely hoses run from one place to the other. Trust me, there is much more done now. Really.
And the membrane, the part of the system that actually separates the water from the salt is now in place.
Lots more to do but primarily, it’s a matter of running output hoses to the water tanks, wiring up the unit and finishing the plumbing. Lots yes, but the end is near.
Oh yea, the best part was drilling two 3/4″ holes in the hull, one for the intake and the other for the brine overboard discharge. Holes in the bottom of the boat certainly ranks up there as a worst nightmare sort of thing. The intake had to have a scoop so that the movement of the boat will help push water into the system so that the pumps won’t have to work so hard. It seems that a flush hole in the hull actually creates a suction when the boat is moving so a scoop that directs the water is needed. Not surprisingly, the instructions offer a caution not to place the intake port for the unit down stream from the head outlet. Sounds like excellent advice.
I hope to be back working on Pandora soon but find myself consumed by working toward our move to Essex in a few weeks. No rest for the weary. However, spring is just around the corner so that means sailing can’t be far away either.